my little girl is laying on her side

[feralcelt2]

ok just got a bunch of bettas in the mail, been in their new housing for about two hours and one of the females is laying on her side, she is breathing fine and moves fine when i place my finger near her, should i worry?

she and the other females are temporarily in one gallon glass bowls until their ten gallon tank cycles (got the bowls at the craft store for 2.50 a piece so i have a bunch on hand for new fishies!!)

 

[Synirr]

She's probably just really stressed... I wouldn't medicate her or anything, just make sure she's in a quiet, dark place so she can rest and recover.

 

[Bettabelieveit]

If anything maybe some stresscoat would be helpfull while she gets her barings about her, you'd be laying on your side a little funny too if you were in the mail for a day or two I know I would.

 

[feralcelt2]

i have them in in a dark area , they were in the kitchen where i was filling the bowls, i knew to keep them outta bright light too, i hope my fishies forgive me!

two of the males ( i have 8 new ones) were sitting straight up and down which was really scaring me, as soon as i turned off the light and added some stress coat most of them started darting at teh brine shrimp i put in their one gallon quarintine bowls

the females are doing much better, just keeping a close eye on two of the males who are moving slow, a red single tail and that awesome cellophane i got (pic in previous thread). the cellophane is sitting straight up and down in the tank with his mouth pointed out of the water, he moves fine when you touch him so im probably just being a paranoid mommy !! this is the first time i have ever gotten bettas through the mail.

should i add some sea salt tomorrow or anything i caould get at the petshop that might help?

 

[splashluff]

ooh, I hope she's ok. it does sound like stress... were they sent Express or Priority?

Did you give them plenty of floating time so they could acclimate to the temperatures in their new homes, and did you slowly add 10-20% (compared to the amount in the bag) of your water to their bagged water every hour for several hours? If you did, and you've tested your water PH and used Conditioners, they should be fine. Just stressed a little, and maybe tired. Make sure they have warm water and it's nice and dark a pinch of aquarium salt would be good

 

[feralcelt2]

i did all of that,

they seem to be doing better with the lights out!

i will pick up some aquarium salt tomorrow, how much should i add per gallon

and most of them have eaten their shrimp which is good

still worried about the two boys but they are breathing ok.

 

[riogal_11]

My betta boy crush lays on his side all the time. Not stressed out or anything, that's just the way he rests. He has plants, but isn't the least bit interested in them. I'd say if she's acting normal then she's probably fine. Now if she starts breathing funny, and not responding when you come to the tank, then I'd worry.

 

[feralcelt2]

ok i checked on them really quick and the cellophane male is still sitting still, but he is sitting gorizontally now!!!

t think ive been stressing and worryhing too much

their color is starting to come back too

the cellophane has a royal blue irridescents on the fins only its amazing
the teal one (the ppic is on another thread ill try and post them here too) is more colorful in person he is turqouis/ darker green on almost his entire body

the red males are a very solid cherry red
the females are really changing color its amazing

one of them was a real muddy color, now she has a pink body with dark red fins
the other red one looks kind of marbled with dark red fins

the blue and teal female are starting to brighten up too and are already looking amazing

as you can tell know that they are moving around better i am really starting to get excited

i will pick up the salt tomorrow and i hope that will help them even more!!
thanx for helping out, i will let you guys know tomorrow how they are doing

 

[afireinside]

definately stress. the type of salt u should pick up is called Doc. Wellfish Aquarium Salt. it reduses stress, improves gill function, all of that good stuff.

 

[feralcelt2]

ok just wanted to update you guys

its been two days and all 8 newbies are doing great, the turquise male and female still have faint stress lines but they are moving around fine. the two tinyred females are even eating off my finger, something my other fish dont do.

now that they are doing better i have to think of names for all of them

 

[Akira21]

Glad to hear that all of your bettas are doing better. Most bettas have to adjust to their new homes after being shipped. They adjust to the new water chemistry (PH levels, temperature, minerals, etc.), surroundings and food. Even in fish that are shipped overnight bettas can be stressed out easily since they are bounced around in those packages quite a bit (I paid a bunch of money to have a beautiful Turquoise HM sent to me one time and paid for FedEx Overnight shipping which is very expensive and the fish arrived dead).

In my water I use Prime (water conditioner), Aquarium Salt, Aquarisol and PH Down (because my water PH is extremely high where I live). My bettas seem to live very well in this water and only every once in a great while do I have one of them come down with something (usually Dropsy, which I have yet to see be successfully treated).

Have fun with your new bettas.